Lilith was bored. Going out of her mind bored. So bored that she almost started a war, just for the entertainment. Almost. That dud of a firework just wouldn't fire.

She finished modding her gear early and spent the next couple days following leads on Earth's Fury. Unfortunately, those leads dried up and left Lilith with nothing to do. So she improvised.

London prays to whatever gods it worships that Lilith will be leaving soon.

Dust spent his time hunting for intel ,it was coming up short, and training and going through arctic survival and orientating him self with maps of the local area. He began planing what to teach for the survival class that some had oppted to take. And kept his high class skill in shape with sims and tranging exercises in in own time.

Boarding the suborbital Arianespace flight to south Africa to then take a LAV to the base. An S-K employed guard informs you that your team has an incoming call you are taken in to what must sever as a conference room for corporate bigwigs on the move on bored the sub-orbital.
"Ah hello there.2
This comes from a high qualit" hologram of a heavily cybered yet young orc.

"David! Is that you looks like your getting younger chummer SK must pay you well these days. Guys, and gal this is my old friend David ran London with me as a kid in '52 hell o' a decker. Any way why you calling? It must be more than just that question about accessing the UV node your assigned to."

"It is I'm your new boss. They are moving the node to a secure location this base was seen as a good compromise than the orbital station idea and is hard enough to reach that it is safe than most terrestrial locations. This means as well as heading the work on that I'm now the security office for the base. So I'm here on SK behalf to brief you on our side and to give you accesscodes to my project. I have forwarded the accesskeys to the flight and I'll send the login details to your comlinks.

Now as you know "Earth's Fury" has made a threat against this operation normally we would source internal security but Britain wanted a force of there own here but but couldn't send a military crew to work in such a non standard way. As this will be more than a guard this post opp we have a bottom line to look after and with Britain unable to fund it if we pull out you are going to need to be much flexible and independent than a military force. We are almost certain that "Earths Fury" is being funded externally and we believe that it may be another corp. Some of you may know how the shadows work and we guess they are funding in a similar way. How they got the ecos to want to fight us is another matter as they aren't all for the money.

I guess you want to know some thing about our plans for the base. It will be manly underground in the bedrock the upper buildings are designed to be quick taken down and replaced from environmental damage. We are working on an archeology like base completely self sufficient and capable of housing up to 300 staff members. I can't go in to its purpose beyond its for research and that this going to be high secrecy. I'm sure you have your questions so fire away."

Lilith leans forward. "I have two questions to start us off. First, what security is already on site? Second, how much access will you be granting us to said security? Will we have direct control of any turrets, cameras, etc?"

"On site well we have a full sec team and a few smartmounted HMGs for now until the towers and en emplacements can be delivered and installed. As to security access we are looking at external all the time and internal if exterior breached. So you'll have full look at any radar or cameras topside as well as the emplacements and other defensive measures."

"What about perimeter security?"

"At the current time perimeter security is low. We have a ring motion sensors around the base but we will be getting radar and ultrawide band radar on site ASAP. However currently our base is lacking. Due to the necessity of sheltered housing over security in this environment.

"Understandable. If your perimeter security were already established, you would not require our assistance."

"I suppose the big question is: Do you have an on-site team of your own, and, if so, how will we split responsibilities and command?"

"We do have a small security detail on site. However I'm lead to believe that your team is better suited to scout and track any forces as we as much more experienced than most of my men. I believe that while being an on site guard unit would work for you that you will likely be able to do much more useful feats. Responsibility wise you will be required to be on call while at base to reply any attacks and you may be called upon to consult in security mesuers. Command wise as the British governments main force in their territory you will be on the same command tire as my seconds you will respond to only the Government supervisor already here and me as S-Ks security commander. I know that I will be giving you the loosest of rains but I do not know how the supervisor will be."

"Sounds practical. Once we are down and unpacked, I will want to do a first hand look at the surrounding terrain. I expect others want to do so as well. We should probably split up, and compare notes afterwards."

"I'm going to have to go one of my offices wants to talk seams urgent. there about 10km form the base. You should be landing soon get on the LAV provided pack your vital gear guns ammo food. Sky trains will bring the rest but they are slower than a LAV. David out." The hologram fades out with a bit of static.

The guard that borough you in here enters once more carrying a small box. He give each of you a passkey and reader for you comlinks. "I was told to give you these after the call."

DC accepts the box, turning it over in his hand a few times.

"Who are these from?"

Dust looks up from his accesskey. David I assume he said he'd get the accesskeys to us. And they where on the flight

DangerClose shrugs, looks around the plane's cabin, and opens the box.

The armoured form stood incongruously atop the isolated peak of Mt Kirkpatrick.

Abaddon looked down upon the sea of white lapping on the tiny islands of rock that made up the rest of this range and held his breath with awe.

He cracked the seal on his helmet and pulled it off his head. The cold was shocking in it's intensity. For the first time in years he felt truly alive.

Jean, I think I am finally home. Just feel the solitude, the rarefied air.

I could move here tomorrow.

Actually I could start today if you can be bothered...

It would be a couple of days before the rest of the team arrived in Antarctica, he had time on his hands. He never travelled on suborbital flights.

That close to the edge of the Gaiasphere he got really nervous.

He had heard the stories of Suborbitals being diverted into LEO to evacuate personnel from AZT's doomed habitat and had no intention of being torn to shreds by the Void.

He and Jean had tried it a couple of times, weaving webs of Astral Mana to buffer their forms from the shrieking teeth of the Void and flown to the very edge of space. He'd managed nearly 30 seconds the second time but the pain had been excruciating.

Here the Astral was pure and unsullied but still strong and vital.

Here he could be alone.

When the others arrived he had to brief them on everything that Jean had dug up on the Matrix about their opposition.

But until then he could entertain himself, building an Eerie of his own....

Your landing in affirca was rudly interuped by a call form david.
"Things are going south quickly here our perimeter sensors have been tripped looks like a sizable infrentary force likely trying halt this project before it gets any heavy defectiveness in place. Gear up get on the LAV and get here as fast as you can take as much as you need to function until the sky train can bring you the rest of your gear. It looks like we might have to fall back to the hanger its the only defensible structure we have up we'll get a LZ ready for you when you inbound now its time to show us what your made of.

Abaddon perked up when the transmission came through the sat-link.

Finally some action.

He dispatched the spirits he had bound to protect the team with instructions to inhabit each team members body armour and to augment, protect and repair the team until their service expired.

He Followed that up with the big Guardian he usually bound to the Gargoyle. It had instructions to protect and accelerate the LAV until further notice.

Then he contacted David.

<<encrypted burst transmission: Abaddon to Base Commander>> Am advance scout. Will be on-site, 20 minutes. Primary Team transport expedited, on-site, 1 hour. TacNet active on this channel, please submit relevant data. Will be making Stealth approach from South.

Ordering Artoo to prepare for transit he whipped up a modest Guardian Spirit as an Astral scout and sent it off looking for the enemy.

When the big transport drone closed it's adapted cargo hold with an audible hiss Abaddon raised his outstretched hand slightly and both he and the massive crawler lifted slowly off the mountain-top.

With a wave of his hand both he and Artoo vanished completely from sight.

Moments later a puff of dust and a super-sonic crack were all that signalled their departure.

As the LAV raced over the tundra, DangerClose strapped on his armor and weapons. This was not good. A hot insertion without any sort of coordination with existing site personnel was a recipe for friendly fire accidents and tactical blunders.

<<Lilith, can you get us tied in with site communications, so we can determine our most advantageous angle of attack? Ideally, we can arrive from a direction where we cut off their line of retreat and can cripple their transportation in our opening strike.>>

The missile launcher and heavy machinegun had been left behind. The troll was travelling light, or at least as light as anyone in heavy military armor with integrated weapons and an automatic assault canon could travel. The gauss rifles would more than suffice for the heaviest armored vehicles or most powerful spirits.

The troll looked around the interior of the speeding transport, watching the others prepare. He barely noticed the change of the spirit possessing his armor.

After putting on his Armor, Tam does basically the same thing eveyrone else does. Check his gear. The Thunderstruck in the gyromount, with full mobility. Weapon loaded, and powered, with spares. Armor moving, with helmet functioning. The Alpha slung and fastened in back, just in case, with its supplies accessible. Then review the terrain maps we have, and wait till we know the two critical things:
Where will we land?
Where do we think the targets are?

<<Dust, I presume we should fan out as fast as possible when we hit ice?>>

"Fanning out and hitting cover sounds like the best plan. If opportune some of just attempt a jump behind the main line to provide cover when the rest of us land. If we can then I suggest the snipers go in that way while the heavy hitters take the LAV and see try and route them.

Dust fiddles with some AR controlls.
"David? Whats the situation? Is Abbadon there yet? Right. Yeah I get you. Ok. I'll put on though to them.
The holographic unit flickers on. Its quite grainy and gun fire can be heard in the back ground. The figuer of davind crouched behind some strorage units fills mots of the image but legs and fallinf casing can be seen to the sides.
"I'm going to be quick here the force is manly infantry quite a lot the look untrained however they're insane pumped up on some drugs they've been slowly pushing us back. That's not all there are some highly trained men on the field as well. With this standardized gear there hard to spot but they seam to be commanding this rabble as we'll as surprecing any of my men that are doing to good a job. They are coming from the NW manly smaller number are on the flanks. With the ETA on your with you LAV we can get an LZ open for you with a push fi you can a few of you on the ground before that could really give us the time to unpack your drones and make sure the LAV isn't grounded.
David looks up to his left.
"The 3rd squad to foucs fire on that HMG its gos both 1st and 2nd pinned down! Mitchell get a granade on those men pinning 3rd NOW! Peterson make them keep there heads down! 3..2..1!"
David turns his atention back to his commlink.
"Sorry about that its tight down here. I want you to come in at a ENE angle the nose turret on the LAV should let you suppress or target any large groups of resistance and support us in securing the LZ. Forwarding expected LZ coordinates now. I'll send all the info for meshing with our TAC net to your rigger. I'm going to have to go now"
The projection turns off like and old TV set folding the image in on it self to a single point.

Dust has donned a parachute and is looking at the map David sent.
"I'm going to jump behind thme to support your landing I would like a spotter to come with me any one will do bar you Lilith. So any takers also DC you got a grenade launcher I can borrow?

Two Minutes earlier, 2 klicks South of Base.

With a puff of powder they touched down. In this desolate white wasteland he could hear the pop pop pop of distant gunfire.

Close enough.

Tactical Information began pumping through the AR display in his helmet. Time to get to work.

The ice and snow beneath his feet began to flow away from him. Swiftly a crater formed where he had been standing, as he sank the displaced ice flowed preposterously upward to form a five meter thick dome over the sixteen meter wide hemisphere that had been sunk in the ice.

Jean double checked the TacNet and adjusted the dome he was forming to leave a three meter wide hole in the dome that covered the fifteen degrees of arc that the base lay in.

Decloaked now, Artoo had opened it's cargo containers and Threepio had already begun to set up the two mortars, adjusting them so that they fired out of the hole in the massive ice turret that had grown around them.

Jean made final adjustments to the ice, sufficient to allow it to freely rotate, before letting Abaddon know that he was done.

The summoned spirit had returned with it's report on the enemies Awakened strength and Abaddon placed it within the Gargoyle and instructed it to follow him before levitating out of the makeshift mortar emplacement at half the speed of sound.

He climbed 18000 feet straight up in a matter of seconds. Hovering, invisible, just below the Polar Tropopause he scanned the battlefield below with his enhanced vision to visually identify the targets his TacNet reported as enemy targets.

Jean, soften them up a bit with frag and then see how many of them can be captured with the Narcoject.

He felt his thumb move fractionally on the trigger of the Assault Canon as the Spirit began to select targets on the ground with the laser designator.

As the mortars below began to rain death upon the unfortunate assault group he began to scan the area for the real threat.

Lilith giggles. "I love this shit! Our node is coming online... now. Drones running through start up sequence. Try to keep my body alive, will you? Entering VR in 3...2...1."

<<Accessing employer's tacnet. Analyzing data. Dusty, take a flyspy with you. It will allow me to keep track of your situation. Everyone else, allow the drones to lead the way and draw their fire. And everyone, remember to keep me updated on your situation.>>

<<David, are you receiving this feed clearly? To keep things simple, I shall be coordinating our efforts with you.>>

Abbadon, are you connected to our feed yet?>>

Roger Lilith, I am already on overwatch, Jean will make our feed available to you, have commenced suppressive indirect fire.

It should give David enough breathing space to push them back far enough to give you a decent LZ.

I don't want to waste a lot of ammo on this, it is likely a probe to test our strength.

On the LAV.
"Ok things are looking good I have the feed open I'll put the flyspy in my pack for now."
Dust finishes adjusting his pack and runs a few diagnostic tests on his subsystems.

Back in the fight. (As david is calling)
The frag shell hits near the HMG wielding troll that had David's men pinned down sending the troll diving for cover and knocking the HMG out of his hands. The spirit shows that not one of the men on the ground is magically active.

Back in the fight. (An eagle's eye view)
From this vantage point you can see that while there are a lot of men on the ground they do not seam supported in anyway. Scattered among the throng of AK holding thugs you can see a few men carrying heavy weapons. The opposing force is more than twice Davids defending group in size. A few groups of men are moving to flank Daivd's force but his men have set up their HMGs mounted on smart-platforms to cover them. You cnat tell if the HMGs willhold them off.

The GL-67 on the articulated arm sprouting from the middle of DangerClose's back rotates to point at Dust. The weapon has clearly had its' grips and trigger group removed.

<<I have one, but it is hardly in any shape to be loaned. How about Tam drop with you Dust, while Seraph and I follow the drones in to engage priority targets?>>

As information floods in from the battle, the troll collects his RPK from its' crate and slings it. The big cannon remains at the ready as he approaches the cargo ramp.

<<No reason to show them all our good tricks if this is a probing attack. With a bit of luck, this rabble will assume your barrage was dropped munitions from the LAV. Any sign of an observer standing off and collecting intelligence?>>

<<I'll drop with you Dust. I'll spot, and take additional leader targets as we spot them. I'll have the Alpha if we want Granades (HE, AV, and White Phosphors, No smoke.)>>
OOC:

<<Everyone, please note the AR marked individuals now entering your feed. Red indicates M79B1 LAW rocket launchers. These targets have earned high priority.

Yellow indicates individuals believed to be serving in leadership roles for the enemy. Dust, they are priority targets for you. They are heavily cybered, so take this into account.

Jean, target your mortar strikes at the blue locations. It should help to drive them towards a crevasse to the right of the base. If we can force them there, we may be able to acquire another tactical advantage.

Everyone, the majority of their forces are moderately armored in armored jackets and armed with ak-97s and ak-98s. For the most part, they are showing signs of K-10 use.

David, I am sending you a number of suggestions for strategic alterations that should improve your soldiers' survival rates.>>

<<Herding them into the cravasse should allow us to dispose of them with a minimum of our actual strength, and with even less risk to site security. We might be able to take advantage of their mindless ferocity by luring them that way in addition to driving them with explosives. I will focus my attention on the ones with the anti-armor weapons, as they present a credible threat to the existing construction, and assist in the herding as opportunities present themselves.>>

DangerClose continues monitoring the overhead view of the raid, looking for insertion points where he can cause the maximum amount of disruption.

<<I suggest dropping me to the left then and maybe landing on the other side of the crevasse hopefully the fire support we would bring should case them to rush the position even more so as we'll look unprotected. Abbadon could you make concealed cover at this new LZ something like a covered trench? So or forces can take cover in it? With me and tam covering the left Serph DC and Lilith on the right and the main force in the center we could force them to retreat though that force lay out would likely take them back to there own LZ so may be if you drop left and me and tam behind them but the if they attack the new force we don't have a such a subtle line of defense. The mortar is far enough back to be independent of this. I'll let you guys pick the best idea.>>